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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I know this "weekend recap" is a bit late, but we've been spending all the time we can with our family in town. They've all now left, and we're getting back to life as usual. We had 6 people staying at our house for Thanksgiving, and it was amazing! So much food, sightseeing, beautiful weather, cards, and food. Yes, I said food twice. Here's a pictorial look at our mini staycation:

How amazing are these flowers? I had my gala at The Sanctuary, and I was in charge of all the flowers. I just love fall blooms and the oranges, yellows, and reds. You know I also had to sneak my favorite color, purple, into a few of the centerpieces.

Kiawah sunsets are like no other.

Of course I took a bunch of the flowers to reuse for our Thanksgiving table. I was really sad to have to cover the beautiful table we're refinishing since it wasn't 100% polyurethane'd yet. (On the bright side how cute is the tablecloth and the napkins we chose?) I will be sharing the whole dining room set refinishing project here soon. You can also shop our whole dinnerware collection here.

Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market with stops at Kudu for a latte and Callie's for my new favorite biscuit (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate chip biscuit topped with whipped cream and bacon, called The Elvis)!

New favorite beers at Revelry: this Star Wars-inspired Flanders red ale and their current secret beer, made with tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation - so many of my favorite things in one glass!

And, of course, Christmas decorations are starting to appear all over the city!! My favorites are always on King Street and the doors of every church downtown. I can't wait to see what all the houses around the Pitt Street Bridge (below) in the Old Village look like!

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

This post is sponsored by Needham Lane. All product opinions are mine alone.

Last weekend, Mike and I had one of our favorite weekends of the year: my non-profit's gala out on Kiawah Island. For working all day Friday at the event, my boss is always kind enough to let us stay at The Sanctuary Hotel for the weekend. We enjoyed dinner at The Atlantic Room, went to Chesson's art show, played disc golf, walked the beach, and, of course, relaxed at The Sanctuary. I absolutely love that place. The rooms are so welcoming, warm, and airy.

When packing for the weekend, I made sure to include my new favorite pajamas and slippers from Needham Lane. Dan and Maura are a fantastic husband and wife-led company based in New England, that has been making sleepwear since 2004. Maura was an art major, graphic designer and now creates all of the patterns herself! Gradually, they've taken Maura's lovely designs to the street by adding dresses, skirts, tunics, and shirts, and I was so excited when they contacted me to share their line of pajamas and brand new slippers!

The private patios outside each room at The Sanctuary are so calming and the best place to enjoy your morning coffee while listening to the waves. The weather was absolutely beautiful and in the low 60s each morning - just right for pjs!

It was the ideal weekend of relaxation before all of the Thanksgiving madness begins today! After you eat all that turkey and are lounging on the couch, make sure you check out Needham Lane, and imagine yourself in the most comfortable pajamas this Christmas! If you're looking for holiday gifts, how great would a beach tote or scarf be for a gift this year!? Head to their website and join their mailing list to get 20% off your first order AND use the code 25THANKS to get 25% off all regularly priced items this Black Friday!

Monday, November 21, 2016

I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, what is this chick thinking? I swear I have good reason; my goal this year is to be one of the first of our family and friends to get cards out. Here's my thought: mostly everyone still has our apartment address, so by getting a card in their hand with our new address as or before they're writing their own cards, it will be way easier for them to update their address book! I can't yet decide between something Southern or something to specifically tell them we've moved, but I do know that our cards will come from Minted. My love affair with them goes way back; their quality is fantastic, and free recipient addressing gets me every time.

Now for the really big question: photo cards or non-photo cards? We didn't take any professional photos like last year, but maybe something in front of our house or from my sister-in-law's wedding? Can I just use a wedding photo in the card for the next 10 years? What about photos of our adorable cats? See, I love blogging because has literally just been my train of thought for the last 2 minutes - haha. I digress; we need to make a choice. I've narrowed it down... kind of.

Minted is having a sale through tomorrow for 15% off all holiday card orders with code HOLIDAY15, so I highly suggest taking advantage. So alright, here are my options: 1-4 are "Southern" picks, 5-8 are non-photo "moving" cards, and 10-13 are the photo card options. I need your honest input - what should we choose?

Friday, November 18, 2016

A week from tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, where y'all will hopefully shop at local merchants before the holidays to support our communities. You can RSVP for this big day here.

Putting the finishing touches on our home means that much of my Christmas wish list (which I'll be posting soon) is house-related. I'm so excited to share one of my current favorite Etsy shops with you today: Coastal Kelder.

With a variety of items inspired by the ocean, seashells, and, of course, Charleston, it's easy to see why I love it. Plus, the shop owner, Kelley, is also a member of Charleston Blog Society, and has one of my favorite DIY and food blogs - what a perfect combination, right?! She shares fantastic families recipes and a few secrets behind the beautiful items in her shop.

Kelley was kind enough to craft me one of her Charleston pillows, and even used navy and silver lettering to perfectly match my new living room. I can't tell you how wonderful this pillow is; it's the perfect accent piece and conversation starter. Friends come over, instantly grab the pillow, and all of a sudden, we're talking about our favorite spots in the city. South Carolina friends, she also has Columbia and Greenville ones as well as a slew of other designs!

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Last weekend, Mike and I traveled to Sacramento to visit his aunt and uncle. Even with the extra day (thanks to Veteran's Day falling on a Friday), with the coast-to-coast travel, we were only there for about 36 hours, but it was so worth it to get to spend time with them! We absolutely love their little home, and we had never been to California in the fall before and were so impressed with the foliage and blooming flowers. It was the funniest thing to see palm trees, oranges, and fall foliage all in the same view!

This was the third time we'd been out there in our six years together, and we love always trying to do something different. The last two trips were adventures to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, but with a super quick trip this go-around, we decided to stay close to Sacramento with an afternoon you might have seen on Insta around Old Sac. Mike's aunt was the best tour guide and showed us all around this little corner of the city, along the river. I was happily surprised to see Christmas decorations already decorating each building. Being the history nerd that I am, I was so intrigued by the differences between their historical district and all of Charleston. Both cities are "stuck" in the mid-1800s, but the difference in architecture between the "Old West" out there and Caribbean influences here is really cool to see.

And, of course, you know that there was plenty of In-N-Out Burger enjoyed and time spent watching the amazing sunsets from their yard. It was the perfect weekend getaway before the craziness of the holiday season begins. We're already planning our next trip out there, hopefully in the spring to check another ballpark off our MLB bucket list!

Monday, November 14, 2016

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #StickItToLint #CollectiveBias

This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever. It will be the first one celebrating it in our new house, but even more exciting, all of our family is coming down to spend it with us: my parents, Mike's dad and his girlfriend, and Mike's sister and brother-in-law. We are going to have quite the full house, and I could not be more thrilled. The preparation for the holidays is beginning, and I have the perfect follow-up today to the guest room essentials post I shared a couple of months ago. Now that you have a guest space, there are still a few things you need to do right before guests arrive to make sure they're comfortable:

1. Open the windows: Let some fresh air into the space. Even if you're in a cold climate, just crack the window. If it hasn't been lived in for a few weeks or months, especially with the door closed, it can start to feel a little stale.

2. Stock the kitchen: Have cereal in the pantry and eggs in the fridge for breakfast as well as lunch meat and bread for sandwiches. It takes a bit of money to travel, and one of the benefits of staying with family or friends is not having to pay for a hotel and not having to necessarily go out for every meal. We usually have deli meat in our refrigerator, but for us, it's remembering to get mayonnaise and mustard for guests!

3. Dust and refresh: Since our guest room hadn't been used in a couple of months, even though I washed the sheets after our last guests, I decided to re-wash them so they smelled fresh when our family arrived. The guest room is also a little out of the way of our normal (cleaning) routine, so dust had accumulated. Scotch-Brite™ 50% Stickier Lint Roller are great for large debris pick-up such as pet hair & crumbs and grab more than just lint and hair. My favorite use is on lampshades. These are impossible to clean with traditional methods, but run a Scotch-Brite™ Lint Roller over them, and they're like-new in just a few seconds! It's also great to run over the carpet in that room so you don't have to pull out the big vacuum: crumbs, sand, and glitter can all be grabbed since the sheets are 50% more adhesive.

4. Add holiday decorations: This will be the first Thanksgiving that our families are away from their own homes. We want them to feel comfortable but also like they're getting the full holiday experience. We've pulled out the holiday pillows a little early, and while we put away the jack-o-lanterns, we kept out all the fall-themed decor.

5. Update those guest room essentials: Make sure there are plenty of snacks and water for your guests - those tend to be the first things to run out. A Scotch-Brite™ Lint Roller was also the perfect addition to my guest room basket because you can clean up quickly with easy-tear sheets. Having two cats, our guests might find the occasional cat hair around the house (and on their clothes), and these are perfect to keep clothes lint, hair & fuzz free.

As you can tell, we're excited for the holidays!! We did all of our grocery and guest room-updating shopping at Walmart. I found my Scotch-Brite™ Brand items in the laundry aisle, but you can also find different products in the cleaning aisle or the sewing & notions section.

Looking for even more ways to keep your house holiday ready? Check out the Scotch-Brite inspiration page. You can even save $1 on any two Scotch-Brite Products (Scrub Sponges, Lint Rollers and Scrubbing Dish Cloths) by clicking here to print a coupon.
What are your plans this holiday season? Will you be hosting or hosted?